The City of Hood River announces the reopening of the completely rebuilt Children’s Park at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22.

The reopening of the 25-year-old Children’s Park will be celebrated with a ribbon cutting and community festivities from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., complete with live music, activities and food for purchase.

Samba Hood Rio will perform at the celebration. Food trucks and chilren’s activities will be available, said a press release.

On Friday, the fencing will come down and on Saturday, the community can once again enjoy the play structure for the first time, the covered play structure (aka Gibby) and the picnic area and lawn.

After a extensive community effort to design and rebuild Children’s Park, followed by the installation of soft surfacing, the opening was postponed due to delayed shipments of materials necessary to complete the park for safe use. Although the committee and city await a few remaining installments for 100 percent completion of the new park, it is very close and deemed safe and ready for play, said a press release. Public Works resurfaced the parking lot last week in preparation for the park re-opening. Many elements that should have arrived by the June community build dates were delayed by the manufacturers, for reasons including a fire in July at a factory in Georgia.

The play structure is designed for full accessibility, and additional swings, slides and other play features have been added. Design features are the result of extensive input from children and other community members in late 2017 and early 2018 after the city decided it needed to tear down the original structure (done in April) and install a new one. Features include a car dashboard with moveable gear-shift, tire swings and a climbing wall.